myth
which functions to expose its structure. Myth reveals the inner workings
of a society by incarnating central contradictions of a social system. Myth
also records and preserves the memories of primary systems of classifica-
tion, which can be used to clarify the reasons for beliefs and customs.
Moreover, myth enables one to discover operational modes of the human
mind, which have remained constant over centuries. The ability of myth
to reveal mind, which is autonomous and manifests nature, leads one to
a natural reality, suggesting that myth is more than a simple story. Myth
exemplifies logical thinking that is rigorous and concrete unlike the
abstract modern mode of thinking, possesses its own end and inner drive,
represents an autonomous mode of representation, and dies when its
structure weakens.
By means of his method, Lévi-Strauss decomposes the mythical nar-
ratives by identifying and charting their most elementary constituent
units called mythemes, which the myth maker assembles into meaningful
wholes that manifest a dialectical organization of facts. The structuralist
must analyze each myth individually by breaking down its story into the
shortest possible sentences and to discern their bundle of relations. This
gives the scholar a two-dimensional time referent: synchronic, which
provides a horizontal axis that is non-reversible, and diachronic, which
forms a vertical axis that is reversible and paradigmatic. It is the vertical
axis that stands for the deep structure that reveals variations over a period
of time. For Lévi-Strauss, the growth of a myth is continuous, but its
structure remains constant. However, the overall purpose of myth is to
provide a logical model capable of overcoming contradictions.
In addition to the structural and other approaches to myth, it is also con-
ceptualized from a psychological approach, such as that of Sigmund Freud
and his emphasis on the unconscious origins of myth that represent
repressed wishes, and that of Carl Jung and his notion of archetypes that
are buried in the unconscious and form a way for the collective uncon-
scious to communicate with consciousness. Following Freud’s theoretical
thread, René Girard develops Freud’s insights by applying them to biblical
narratives, such as the story of Cain and Abel that suggests that Cain did
not have a sacrificial outlet for his violence. Girard thinks that myth and
ritual originate from generative violence, with the latter able to channel and
control the violence of the community by directing it toward a victim.
Often confused with Jung because of the importance of archetypes in
their theories of myth, Mircea Eliade is not a Jungian, but rather an his-
torian of religion who advocates an encyclopedic approach to the study
of religious phenomena. For Eliade, myth represents a primordial event
that took place at the beginning of time, which makes the creation myth
primary. Since myths narrate origin stories, they explain why the world,